Mighty Movie Podcast: Praise the Lord and Stoke the Conflagration: Kate Davis and David Heilbroner on Waiting for Armageddon

I'll admit I have little patience for people who confuse religious mythology for real-world politics. You want to believe that, when the earthly going gets tough, you're going to be zapped up to heaven and have a front row seat for the conflagration and the return of your deity? Cool, swell, no skin off my nuts. You want the U.S. to model its domestic and foreign policies on such fantasies, that's when I politely have to object.

Which is to say that I probably couldn't have sat where the directors of WAITING FOR ARMAGEDDON did while interviewing people who dearly believe in the looming spectre of the End Times -- including a couple who have come to their beliefs after, ahem, "scientific" analysis and a guy who leads tours through Israel and gets all giggly at the thought of the razing of the Dome of the Rock -- and not wound up stabbing a pencil in my brain. I'm just not that strong.

Fortunately, directors Kate Davis, David Heilbroner, and Franco Saachi are, and their forbearance pays off in a documentary that gives you a good look into what a vocal and influential segment of our population believes is the world's ultimate destiny, and what the risks may be in trying mold our politics to that worldview. It's an important film for anyone concerned about the continuing incursion of religion into our public policy, and a balanced warning in particular for those who have noted the religious right's involvement in Middle East politics without considering its possible costs.

Click on the player below to hear my interview with Kate Davis and David Heilbroner.